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Lot Essay
Characteristics and Context of Gio Ponti’s Exedra Bench
A unique design most likely conceived for either a reception or bedroom, circa 1938 is Ponti's adaptation of an ancient Roman Exedra bench, with eight tapered beech wood legs as in a rectilinear item of the same period.
For this bench the eight legs are inserted into a kidney-shaped support for a cushion. His choice of the very hard beechwood is congruent with its use for model making in the architecture studio.
For this piece, Ponti asked the ebanista to reveal multiple finger joints instead of covering them with veneers. In fact it became a consistent feature in much of his furniture as mentioned in his 1957 book, Amate l’architettura.
Multi-legged items often recurred in his designs for coffee tables, side tables, and consoles, notably in some of his late 1930s private commissions such as the 1935 Marmont and 1938 Vanzetti apartments.
In these pieces Ponti invites surrealist zoomorphic readings, while his exaggerated support systems call attention to otherwise invisible tectonic forces. He often juxtaposed such biomorphic forms against the rationalist geometries of his sofas, desks, and shelving systems.
Such features and methods lent his interiors a dynamic quality. With a seemingly effortless humorous distance, they were cued to an idiosyncratic mix of avant-garde art currents, which evolved into his own highly recognizable style.
Brian Kish November 2025
Brian Kish is an art historian, curator, specialist in 20th Century Italian Architecture and Design, and senior consultant to the Gio Ponti Archives, since 2006
A unique design most likely conceived for either a reception or bedroom, circa 1938 is Ponti's adaptation of an ancient Roman Exedra bench, with eight tapered beech wood legs as in a rectilinear item of the same period.
For this bench the eight legs are inserted into a kidney-shaped support for a cushion. His choice of the very hard beechwood is congruent with its use for model making in the architecture studio.
For this piece, Ponti asked the ebanista to reveal multiple finger joints instead of covering them with veneers. In fact it became a consistent feature in much of his furniture as mentioned in his 1957 book, Amate l’architettura.
Multi-legged items often recurred in his designs for coffee tables, side tables, and consoles, notably in some of his late 1930s private commissions such as the 1935 Marmont and 1938 Vanzetti apartments.
In these pieces Ponti invites surrealist zoomorphic readings, while his exaggerated support systems call attention to otherwise invisible tectonic forces. He often juxtaposed such biomorphic forms against the rationalist geometries of his sofas, desks, and shelving systems.
Such features and methods lent his interiors a dynamic quality. With a seemingly effortless humorous distance, they were cued to an idiosyncratic mix of avant-garde art currents, which evolved into his own highly recognizable style.
Brian Kish November 2025
Brian Kish is an art historian, curator, specialist in 20th Century Italian Architecture and Design, and senior consultant to the Gio Ponti Archives, since 2006